Environmental Compliance

Mitigation and Mitigated Findings of No Significant Impact

Mitigation methods or measures are recommended for the purpose of avoiding, reducing, or rectifying environmental impact (40 CFR• 1508.20). The Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) has stipulated that environmental documents for National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) compliance should include discussions of mitigation measures (40 CFR • 1502.14 and • 1502.16). In general, mitigation involves modifications to a proposal or measures taken to negate or reduce environmental impacts to humans, nontarget species, and the physical environment.

Mitigation for humans generally focuses on protection of human health for both workers and the public. Mitigation for nontarget species usually involves methods to protect wildlife, pets, and livestock. Specific protection of beneficial insect species such as honey bees may be included. Consultation with the U.S. Department of the Interior's Fish and Wildlife Service to ensure protection measures for potentially affected endangered and threatened species is also part of the mitigation effort. Mitigation for the physical environment may include the use of buffer zones around water, use of alternate treatment methods, timing of methods to avoid specific impacts, avoidance of sensitive sites, coordination of efforts with other programs to minimize impacts, and technical review of the on-site conditions in a program area. The record of decision prepared for an environmental impact statement (EIS) is required to state whether all practicable mitigation measures have been adopted, and if not, why they were not (40 CFR• 1505.2 and CEQ's 40 Questions).

The "finding of no significant impact" (FONSI) is a document, prepared after an agency completes an environmental assessment (EA), in which the agency briefly explains why an action will not have a significant effect on the human environment and, therefore, why an EIS will not be prepared (40 CFR • 1508.13). The finding itself need not be detailed, but must succinctly state the reasons for deciding that the action will have no significant environmental effects and, if relevant, must show which factors were weighted most heavily in the determination (CEQ's 40 Questions). Mitigation measures may be relied upon to prepare a FONSI only if they are imposed by statute or regulation, or submitted by an applicant or agency as part of the original proposal. As a general rule, the regulations contemplate that agencies should use a broad approach in defining significance and should not rely on the possibility of mitigation as an excuse to avoid the EIS requirement (40 CFR • 1508.8 and •1508.27). A "mitigated FONSI" is based upon mitigations that are enforceable through the record of decision. The integration of mitigation measures into these environmental documents is required from the beginning. In programs documented by mitigated FONSI's, agencies should make the FONSI and EA available for public comment 30 days before taking action (40 CFR• 1501.4 and CEQ's 40 Questions).